15 December 2015, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) signed an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell Group (Shell) to expand the capacity of the joint venture located in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province. According to the agreement, additional petrochemical production facilities will be built adjacent to the existing petrochemical complex and Shell will be involved in the construction process. CNOOC has already undertaken the construction of the petrochemical production facilities. The expanded petrochemical complex will double its current ethylene production capacity, boosting it to approximately 2 million tonnes per year.

CNOOC, the largest offshore oil & gas producer in China, is a state-owned company operating directly under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. Shell is a leading global group of energy and petrochemical companies that is high up on the Fortune 500 list.

KWM acted as the PRC legal counsel in the project, advising CNOOC on all legal aspects of the agreement signing process in relation to the PRC law. The KWM team was led by Shenzhen office partner Wang Rongkang.